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‘It’s a voice in my head that goes over and over and over and sometimes it gets really mean, (saying) things that you would never say to another person, and things that if somebody said them to you you’d be like “I’m never seeing this person again”.’

She added: ‘It’s a loud voice asking lots of questions, a lot of ‘what ifs’ and also doing this crazy risk assessment on everything.’

Anxiety, triggers and treatments were the topic of the latest mental health podcast.

Sarah began suffering from anxiety when she was 15, and for her it’s always been physical as well as mental, beginning with ‘that weird tummy thing’ – the feeling of tightness and weight many will relate to.

Her triggers were performance anxiety before social events, and the general feeling that ‘everyone’s got to like me’.

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She said: ‘Ahead of nights out that would be there, it would be like “Oh my gosh, I’ve got to go out and I’ve got to be fun and I’ve got to make sure everyone has a really good time and what if I can’t?” And that’s a lot of pressure.’

(Illustration: Deirdre Spain for Metro.co.uk)

Sarah added anxiety was also just generally there – ‘that’s the thing about anxiety – it has its triggers but it’s very happy to just exist on its own.’

After suffering anxiety attacks, stress bloats, tension headaches, exhaustion and putting on weight, she decided enough was enough, and started investigating various treatments.

Her favourites are homeopathy, mindfulness and meditation.

She said: ‘When you meditate what you’re able to do is put a bit of distance between you and your thoughts.

‘And by doing that you can kind of sift out the stuff that’s real, that you’re actually worried about…and you can be really kind to yourself… but what you’re also able to do is identify the stuff that isn’t real, that is just the chatter, that is just the generator.’

To listen to Sarah talking about her anxiety – and an interesting treatment involving a raisin – listen to the episode through SoundCloud by clicking play at the top of this article, or subscribe to Mentally Yours on iTunes.

Here's what you need to know about Mentally Yours:

Mentally Yours is a weekly podcast from Yvette and Ellen of Metro.co.uk.

It’s all about chatting about mental health without taking things too seriously, with a different guest each week talking about their experiences of mental illness.